There’s nothing I like better than a holiday with a great story behind it. Throw in a couple of star-crossed lovers and you have a celebration for ages.

Tanabata is celebrated in Japan every July 7 when young people write wishes on slips of paper and hang them on bamboo trees, girls wishing for more skill at sewing and crafts, boys wishing for better handwriting.

The story is this: Orihime, the Weaving Princess, was the daughter of Tentei, the King of Heaven. She used to weave beautiful clothes along the banks of the Amanogawa, the River of Heaven known to us as the Milky Way.

Her father admired her work, so she applied herself to it day in and day out. Unfortunately for her, this left her little time for the interests important to a growing girl — including thoughts of romance.

Being a good father, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi, the Cowherd Star, who worked on the other side of the Amanogawa.

When the two youngsters met, it was love at first sight, and they soon married. However, this meant that Orihime stopped weaving, and Hikoboshi let his cows range wild — and this sent Tentei into a rage.

So he confined the two lovers on two sides of the starry river. Though he forbade them to meet, the despondent Orihime begged her father to relent. Moved by her tears, Tentei agreed to let them meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month — but only if she had finished her quota of weaving.

When the first year had passed, the lovers discovered that no bridge crossed the Amanogawa. How, then, were they to meet? A flock of magpies came to the rescue, creating with their wings a bridge over which Orihime could pass.

Tradition says that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies will be unable to come, and the lovers must wait another year to meet.

By now, some readers must be saying, “Wait a minute! I know that story!” Yes, in fact, it originated in China. The holiday is called Qixi and is celebrated according to the lunar calendar; it is considered the Chinese Valentine’s Day. The Koreans, who borrowed it like the Japanese did, call it Chilseok.